Chrysler Repair: town n country, soldering pencil, pin board

Question
My 1997 Town&Contry van model LXI has an occassional problem starting. This starts out by starting the van, all instruments and gauges  won't register any type of reading at all and the engine dies a few seconds after starting. The first time this happened I pounded on top of the dash just above the speedometer (out of frustration) and after trying one last time the van started and stayed running with all the gauges working. This has been going on for almost two years now. The weirdist thing is that you never know when it's going to happen as it does'nt happen every time. Sometimes 6 months might go by and other times it will happen twice a week. Does anyone have a clue what the problem might be?

Answer
Hi Al,
If the pounding routine affects the starting, then I would remove the cluster and check the solder joints between the pins of the socket and the circuit board. Reheat each of the pin-board interfaces with a soldering pencil. Than may solve the cluster misbehaior and ideally the starting problem.
Roland